CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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Levenmouth Reconnected are very pleased with their active travel plans, but they've been drawn up by men (sorry) in an office miles away armed with an out of date map of Leven and a red pen. Zero connectivity to anywhere people need to go. Idiots!
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Here's a frustrating bit of business; better half has booked early train tickets from Curriehill to Glasgow through their work system. No ticket machine at Curriehill though but luckily they were passing near Haymarket tonight. Turns out even if you have a reference number and you didn't buy the tickets yourself you still have to have a ye olde debit card to put in the machine!
So now I'm driving to Edinburgh Park at 11pm in the hopes of picking up a ticket. And then she'll still have the stress of whether they'll take her bike ok (it's a 25 minute ride at the other end)
Bah!
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Lumo: Cut-price train operator plans to extend London-Edinburgh services to Glasgow
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@Dave, IIRC you can use any debit/credit card, not only the one that was used to pay. They just use it to ID who picked up the tickets.
Still it's a bit pish there aren't machines at every station. Talk about penny-pinching to make for a miserable customer experience
There are two ticket machines at Musselburgh station - both on the Edinburgh platform. If you want to buy a ticket for stations to North Berwick or Dunbar, you either have to go to the other platform, or get your ticket some other way.
The early train to Glasgow 0740 ? would have maybe one bike on already? You will generally pick up a ticket on the train. I have never sought to book a ticket on this train.
On the way back the other week there was an 1800 hrs train to Edinburgh that took only. 52 minutes to reach Curriehill. A record. Mine was the only bike,
I think still not so many commuters on the slow train. Though if that new time is rolled out that might change.
I started my journey the other week at Ayr where the station hotel has now been knocked down. Allowing them to run a diesel train from Ayr to Prestwick then switch to electric. The diesel train had the old Curriehill bike hanging rolling stock which meant you always got a bike on, the electric train had just my bike though another cyclist from Stirling did spend some time admiring my bike.
Fortunately (?) the train tickets are provided through a corporate booking system at no cost to the employee. But unfortunately that means a trip to Edinburgh park, or Haymarket, to print them out before travelling from next door Curriehill. :s
Why no electronic ticket option?
Employee’s or rail company or ticket seller?
@chdot, this is because Scotrail, somewhat uniquely, does not allow third party vendors - typified by corporate booking systems - from selling e-tickets for its own services. Transport Scotland alone has the power to change this policy.
It, too, could require all stations for which it has responsibility to be provided with at least one ticket vending machine. But until then the best the traveller can rely on is Scotrail's list of stations that do have TVMs. Curriehill, Kingsknowe and Slateford are remarkable omissions.
And then she'll still have the stress of whether they'll take her bike ok (it's a 25 minute ride at the other end)
Trips like this were why I bought my Brompton. It's just less hassle compared with taking a full sized bike on trains ad hoc, as long as the travel post-destination is not too challenging.
“because Scotrail, somewhat uniquely“
Mmm
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eTickets present a greater risk of fraud. Also, significant enhancements would be required within our retailing systems to mitigate these risks. We offer mTickets instead, which can only be opened and activated directly in our app prior to use.
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@neddie: "IIRC you can use any debit/credit card, not only the one that was used to pay. They just use it to ID who picked up the tickets."
That can depend on the type of ticket machine at the station you are trying to get your tickets from. It used to be the case that you could use pretty much anything with a mag stripe on the back, such as a Nectar card, in combination with the booking code to get printed tickets from a machine, but that's being clamped down on these days as more modern tickets machines are being rolled out that require the actual card used to purchase the tickets to be presented.
This has created a further problem with certain banks which use "virtual" card numbers for online purchases, which are not the same as the number carried on the physical card. Typically such cards don't even have a 16-digit number printed on them, the data only being stored on the mag stripe and chip. This is theoretically more secure, in that a thief can't use the card for online transactions (unless they have a mag stripe reader), but it does create problems. To "see" the card number e.g. to make an online purchase you have to use the bank's app to view the card details, and the number that it shows you is the "virtual" card number, not the actual number stored on the card. This means that, when you then put the physical card into the ticket machine, it won't accept it as the card used for the online purchase. The same goes if you go to a ticket window and the staff member there asks you to swipe your card to get your tickets issued. In that case you might try to show them the "virtual" card number in the app but I don't believe that they're obliged to accept that (though I believe some will).
The banks issuing such 'numberless' cards are aware of this problem, but it seems the best that they can do is to add some less than crystal-clear advice about tracking down past transactions to find the card number used and/or advising the customer to purchase e-tickets rather than tickets for collection. That's certainly the case for the debit card on my Chase account*, and I believe that's not the only bank this applies to.
There's a thread about the virtual card number problem, and the different authentication requirements imposed by different ticket machines, on the Rail UK forums here.
* I don't use that card it very often, but checking my transactions just now it's clear that the card number used for the EIF tickets I bought online back in August is not the same as the one used for my cash withdrawal in France back in January, when I used the physical card.
@arellcat: "the best the traveller can rely on is Scotrail's list of stations that do have TVMs."
I was buying tickets for Avanti West Coast the other day and their online booking web app swore blind that Haymarket doesn't have ticket machines <rolleyes>. Scotrail says there are eight! I think it meant ticket machines that you can collect AWC tickets from, which is rather a different thing. It did provide a link where you could in theory look up stations with ticket machines, but there didn't seem to be any way to tell it which one of those you wanted to use. I suspect it could have been any one of them, but it didn't say that, so I eventually opted for their horribly fraud-prone etickets instead (which I assume would be at their risk).
I'm now just keeping my fingers crossed that they're actually able to get us from Edinburgh to Birmingham, and back, with minimal hassle. Their overall service record is renownedly far from good but if they manage to provide the trains advertised than it's significantly quicker and cheaper than the alternatives (primarily Cross Country, which involves a very circuitous route via Leeds IIRC).
Why can't we just have a fully nationalised and integrated railway?
It shouldn't be rocket science and it's already ~80% nationalised anyway. We literally have the worst of all worlds - train companies creaming off profits, no integration, and a mostly publicly owned entity. Rraaaaaaargh, this country! It's bloody technology and tech companies that have created all this complexity, and it disadvantages vulnerable groups, e.g. the elderly.
We could even nationalise the airlines while we're at it, and align their routes and ticket prices with our climate goals...
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Some of the business travel journeys found to have the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger, compared to one person driving alone in a fossil fuel car, were: London King's Cross to York; Darlington to King's Cross, and Ebbsfleet international to St Pancras International, it said.
But the single journey found to have the lowest carbon footprint was that from Haymarket Station in Edinburgh to London King's Cross, which the research estimates produces almost 20 times fewer carbon emissions than the same journey by car, according to the trade body.
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@ejstubbs interesting, thank you for that. My husband has a card like that - fortunately, when we used it to buy a load of train tickets recently, we got them all sent to us as electronic tickets that we printed out, as so didn't come across the issue you describe.
Slightly niche, but I reckon someone on CCE will know the answer...
Is it possible to buy an Advance Single Scotrail train ticket for a journey that involves changing trains, but with a longer break in the middle than seems to be the default?
I want to get the 1100 from Waverley to Queen Street, then the 1222 from Queen Street to Tyndrum. The cheapest return ticket for this is £64, but if I got the 1115 train, Advance Single tickets would make it around £40. Will be travelling with a dog, and would like a bit more transfer time in Glasgow if possible.
Hope that made sense...
Advance tickets don't offer an official break of journey - which is when you go through ticket barriers onto the concourse - and changing trains as part of a single itinerary isn't a break of journey.
An Advance ticket that covers the whole itinerary can definitely be purchased giving a longer time period between trains, subject to availability. But I can't find a way to select the 1100 train out of Edinburgh in the National Rail journey planner, even when including the +30 minutes or +1hr time between trains. The 1100 is however a weekend-only service as far as I can see.
Using an app I got this info
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Your trains must stop at all these stations: Linlithgow, Garelochhead, Arrochar & Tarbet
If you use a train that goes through any of them without stopping, or you don't go through them at all, your tickets won't be valid and you will have to pay again. You don't have to get off the train at these stations unless you need to change trains.
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So that’s ‘why’ you can’t get 1100
Strange
National Rail journey planner, even when including the +30 minutes or +1hr time between trains.
This did exactly what I needed, thanks!
EDIT: It was, of course, actually the 1045, I wanted to book.
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Grand Union has been given the go-ahead by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to start running services from London Euston to Stirling from June 2025, in a move the regulator said would increase competition and choice for passengers.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/07/new-train-services-london-scotland-grand-union
I realise this is venture comes from the same person who created Grand Central, but I wonder if the name was chosen for quiet propaganda?
Whilst using a Class 1 train reporting number the Varamis MTH-BHI non stop trains have no 1st class seats, and only carry ½ton roll cage pallets - replacing 8-24 trucks & drivers with 1 train top speed 100mph vs 56 mph for trucks, averging 80mph for 350 miles BHI-MTH
Varamis is now offering trains with EUS-GLC paths I believe
Not sure if you can book a party of cyclists on this service - bikes only & cyclists on cushions with another train
In Liverpool Maerseyrail has convenience stores on severa;l stations which provide staff on site all day, and are also licensed to sell tickets - this solves a few problems in a single move
The TVM's are no use for buying the 50% discount fares available with an SEC (bus pass) on SPTE routes, and also don't sell rover/ranger fares, neither do some portis machines carried by on train crew, although I think you may still be able to get the old NSE London Stations to Calais Maratime rail & sail fare from staff on trains between Thurso & Inverness
Notoriously the Glasgow-London Stations fares we sold at diferent prices by GNER TVM at KGX and Virgin TVM at EUS, all valid by any permitted route Starting from any London terminus between PAD and LST
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The operator of the Hogwarts Express-style Jacobite steam train has announced it is suspending services a week before the Easter start of its summer season pending a fresh attempt to win exemption from long-standing safety regulations despite losing a court case over the issue three months ago.
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Full restoration of ScotRail trains every 15 minutes on flagship Glasgow-Edinburgh line ‘highly unlikely’ for some time
Post-pandemic passenger rebound weaker in Scotland than across Britain
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Fancy a #Rail #Europe 2024 holiday, for a #climatecrisis #flightfree year?
Hear Lawrence's 2023 story, visiting many #European countries
.. and get some advice!
Th 28 March, 7.30, Quaker Mtg House, 7 Victoria Ter
https://facebook.com/events/1354795195396442?ref=newsfeed
Station pics: #Paris #Karlsruhe #Berlin
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From 25 March 2024, the Brussels – Amsterdam – Berlin night train will be extended to the Czech capital Prague. Along the way it also stops in romantic Dresden, the spectacular nature reserve of Saxon Switzerland and in the beautiful Elbe valley.
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We welcomed @JennyGilruth , MSP for Mid-Fife and Glenrothes to the Levenmouth Rail Link on Friday for an update as the opening date draws closer - we can't wait for June 2!
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https://twitter.com/NetworkRailSCOT/status/1772251286303383913
Levenmouth will be the last extension of the Scottish rail network we are likely to see for many years. Transport Scotland's capital budget is more than accounted for by committed trunk road projects.
It is the only post-devolution rail extension promoted by the SNP. The Borders railway, Airdrie-Bathgate, and Larkhall-Milngavie were all Lab-Lib Dem projects.
The SNP have actually cancelled more rail extensions than they promoted - cancelling the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link and Glasgow Airport Rail Link. They also substantially de-scoped the Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme (from the proposed 10-minute frequency and 34 minute journey time).
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